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Donna Brassard, Strategies+
Updated: December 14, 2020
From the Publisher
In 2020, Maine businesses demonstrated perseverance, flexibility and innovation
By Donna Brassard
To say that 2020 has been a challenging year is probably an understatement. As an essential business, Mainebiz has been operating throughout the pandemic, and we have had some concerning moments. But it’s been nothing compared to the turmoil and loss that our associates in the hospitality, restaurant and retail sectors have experienced. I confess to having a bit of survivor’s guilt as we close out our year in a relatively good place.
The pandemic caught us off guard. Like many other businesses, we had no Plan B for this. We are fortunate that our operations were cloud-based, and that meant we could shift to working remotely. Our readers relied on us more than ever to provide them with valuable and reliable news and information — online readership increased by 12%. So we had to step up.
The Mainebiz team jumped on a steep technology learning curve: Zoom, Google Meets, podcasts, video production, live stream broadcasting, Remo virtual networking. Our team had to get our heads around things like the PPP and EIDL and COVID protocols so that we could help our readers understand what was happening and how they were affected. I’m proud of the way everyone participated and took on more responsibilities and roles.
We saw the same thing happening all over Maine in all kinds of businesses, large and small. There are so many examples of how companies “pivoted” or “punted” or “rebooted” and we were delighted to report on how they adapted and moved forward in innovative ways. We find their stories inspirational during this challenging time. I read that Webster’s Dictionary word of the year is pandemic. If I had to choose words to describe this year for the Maine business community they would be: perseverance, innovation, loyalty, flexibility and community.
For us, one deciding factor to having a good year and not a bad one, is the continued support of our advertisers. When they could have pulled back, they didn’t. When offered new ideas, they took a leap of faith with us. Can’t have an in-person event? No problem, they said, and agreed to our plans for virtual events. We so appreciate their confidence in us to continue to deliver value.
While Mainebiz may not end 2020 where we wanted or expected, we are OK. We’ve created new products during this unpredictable time to continue to tell business stories in new and interesting ways. We are looking forward to continued innovation in 2021.
The Mainebiz team is healthy, we have all learned some valuable lessons, and created new priorities. We are fortunate to be in a good place.
We thank you for reading and subscribing to Mainebiz and our enews, for attending our events, for listening to the podcast, for continuing your advertising programs, for sponsoring our events, and for your words of encouragement. We encourage you to continue to support Maine’s businesses.
Everyone at Mainebiz wishes you and yours a healthy and happy holiday season. Joy to you in the New Year to come!
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